MANCHESTER United's shooting stars lined up on one side of the dusty street, the hombres of Real Madrid on the other.

It was a classic confrontation of Good versus Bad - but with Fergie running his stopwatch back at the ranch, there was every chance it could turn a little Ugly.

And if the bullets and recriminations had started to fly, United marketing assistant Katie Stuart would be caught in the crossfire.

She had joined David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Seba Veron, and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for the filming of the popular Pepsi TV ad depicting a shoot-out between the Reds and their Madrid rivals.

The ad was shot over four days at Almeria in southern Spain, in a simulated Wild West town that was built to film spaghetti westerns. But the marketing department had to face the wrath of a man with a reputation every bit as fearsome as Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name - Fergie.

The ad shoot had been planned during United's early pre-season preparations in July, to cause minimum disruption, but Fergie's reaction was predictable: "Spain?! Are they mad?!" he said when marketing director Peter Draper told him of Pepsi's plans.

The manager relented in the end, but the dire consequences of the player being late back for training were spelled out. Kate had the job of co-ordinating the whole operation of flying the United lads out to Spain, and getting them back before Fergie strapped on his six-shooters.

Split

She says: "We were due to fly out on the day the first team was split between friendlies at Chesterfield and Bournemouth, so Ali and myself met up with Gary Neville, who was injured, at Manchester Airport and we flew by private plane down to Bournemouth.

"There we picked up Ole, Seba and Ryan and took off for Spain.

"Beckham, one of the England players given extra time off by United after their World Cup exertions, had flown out the day before as he had more "shooting" to do than the others."

We arrived in Spain late that night but had to set off for the `desert' at 6.30 in the morning, and it was very, very, very hot."

The United lads saw little of Madrid stars Iker Casillas, Raul and Roberto Carlos during the four-day shoot - they were filming a different version for the Spanish market, along with Inter Milan superstar Rivaldo. And they were back in Manchester in time to avoid a pistol-whipping from Fergie!

The story of the Pepsi shoot is a good illustration of how a delicate balance has to be struck, in these days when Manchester United are a money-making machine as well as a football club.

The two nubs of the club are Old Trafford, where the business side functions, and Carrington, a place where the focus is purely on football.

Demands

With demands on the players' time from both facets of the club, there has to be understanding from both sides to avoid a breakdown in relations.

"We have to remain aware of what the players are here for," says marketing director Peter Draper. "We get all kinds of requests, some of them just unworkable. One sponsor wanted us to arrange for a competition winner to sit on the bench during a match.

"We have had enquiries about running a football version of Pop Idol, with the winner being given a contract at United for a year.

"The players wouldn't believe the number of requests we turn down before it even gets as far as discussing it with them."

Now the marketing people at Old Trafford are looking ahead to a new challenge, as the Reds go on tour to the United States this summer - and in more ways than one, that is a whole different ball game.

"I was in the States last week, and one of the things discussed was whether it would be alright for some people to be on the pitch when the players run out," says Draper.

"Over here, that would be unthinkable, but over there it is quite normal - I went to a Superbowl a couple of years ago and was handed a pass to let me on the field at the end of the game."